Mexico is the 13th most popular academic destination for US students, while it ranks 9th as a country of origin for foreign students in US colleges. (Photo: Mexican Education Ministry)

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Perspectives

Higher Education: Foreign Policy Opportunity

Brazil, Costa Rica, and Peru growing in popularity among
US students.

BY GABRIEL SANCHEZ ZINNY

In an era in which goods, services, capital,
and people all routinely cross borders, diplomacy has become more
multidimensional and interconnected than ever before. Even though education and
human capital building, which are critical for remaining competitive in this
world, face a unique opportunity to become a new priority of this multilateral
agenda, examples of engagement in this area are still scarce and random.

The US-Latin America relationship provides a
perfect case. The bilateral agenda has not moved far from historic issues such
as citizen and border security, democracy building and human rights, and trade.
Even though education underlies almost every issue on the list, the formulation
of educational programs and goals has been more an exception than the rule in
foreign policy agreements. Both sides have been hostages to more urgent matters
and are failing to reach compromises on an issue where both have complementary
interests and remarkable challenges in the longer term– as, for example, PISA results
reveal year after year.

Higher education has managed to escape this
pattern and became the object of some interesting bilateral initiatives,
directly linked to competitiveness and innovation. In what has become one of
the most far reaching programs, President Barack
Obama launched in 2011 “100,000 Strong in the Americas” for Latin America
and the Caribbean. The purpose of the program is to foster greater
international exchange of students across both regions by 2020.Besides strengthening bi-national relations,
the program seeks to better prepare young people for the 21st century global
workforce, making them internationally-aware and cross-culturally adept and, by
doing so, promoting future leaders and innovators.

With more than 886,000, the number of
international students studying in the U.S. is at a record high. So is the
number of American students studying overseas - nearly 290.000-, according to
the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) 2014 Open Doors report
released in late 2014. The economic contribution of international students in
the U.S. has also increased from $24 billion (2012) to $26.8 billion (2013),
according to an economic analysis by NAFSA: Association of International
Educators.

Though little has changed among the top five
most popular destinations for American students (United Kingdom, Italy, Spain,
and France); the report argues that “less traditional” locations have seen some
growth in popularity. Latin American countries like Brazil, Costa Rica, and
Peru rank together with South Africa, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan. This
growth has not been both ways, though, with the ratio of Latin American
students in the US still being surpassed by Asian and European students.

The 100.000 Strong initiative has partnered
with private companies and corporate foundations like Santander, Coca Cola, the
ExxonMobil Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, among others, for additional
resources. These funds have been in part assigned to several universities
across the region through grants to build capacity that increases study abroad
to the United States and the reception of US students.

The program has also been incorporated to
specific bilateral frameworks, like the one launched in Brazil, which will send
100,000 Brazilian students abroad to study science, engineering, mathematics,
and technology-based disciplines, half of whom will study in the United States.

In a similar way, Presidents Enrique
Peña Nieto from Mexico and Obama presented in 2013 the Bilateral Forum on
Higher Education, Innovation and Research –FOBESII- to promote higher education
exchange. By doing so, they seek to increase competitiveness and cooperation on
technological development and innovation. Mexico is the 9th ranked country of
origin for foreign students in US colleges, and the 13th most popular academic
destination for US students.

Higher education institutions themselves are
gradually developing their own channels of dialogue, cooperation, and
interaction. Much of the current diplomatic activity for the global engagement
of higher education is institution-to-institution, driven either by commercial
motivations, or marketing interests or some strictly academic, seeking
cooperative agreements to deepen and broaden the quality of their programs or
expanding opportunities to join international research networks.

The philanthropic community has also crossed
borders through organizations like PREAL, Teach for America, the World Fund,
Fulbright and Junior Achievement, with initiatives that range from hemispheric
benchmarking and advocacy efforts to fundraising or teacher training in Latin
America, among others. Moreover, development assistance, a historic force in
foreign policy, remains a driving force to strengthen bilateral relations with
other nations, while building political and economic stability, alleviating
poverty and creating jobs.

According to Duncan Wood, Director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, growing international competition creates a
need to join forces and work on a positive agenda that goes deeper than mere
commercial agreements or cross border security because, though Latin America
could be a land of opportunity, a lot more work needs to be done. He continued
by noting that even though engagement in higher education is off to a good
start, the Americas need to attract more investment in K-12 education,
especially in science, engineering, technology and math, and that to achieve
the academic levels necessary to be competitive they need support and
cooperation from governments, the private sector, and civil society.

Gabriel Sanchez Zinny
is president of Kuepa.com, a Latin American Blended
Learning company, working in incorporating technologies to reduce drop out
rates.